Chapter 29
A Little Monstrous
ELLIOT
My face feels hot as she leers at me, and my breathing is shallow when she rises from the sofa.
“Iris…”
My mouth opens to help her see reason, but I grow distracted by the smooth touch of her skin as she pulls me to my feet.
“Come on,” she says, voice low.
“Where—”
I start to ask where we’re going, but I decide shortly after that it doesn’t matter as long as I’m going where she’s going.
My feet drag as she leads me through the house, too distracted by the scent thread trailing off of her to remember to pick up my feet.
I stumble over a few steps, not looking where I’m headed, but I can’t stop looking at her.
Every time I do, I can’t breathe. Even blinking feels like a sin. So I simply don’t.
“Elliot?”
Her face tilts in front of me, sweet almond eyes smiling. I am vaguely aware that the room has changed. Or maybe it hasn’t changed, but I’ve moved. I don’t remember moving, but whatever the case, I like this room much better.
This room is soft and pink, and it smells like cherries and honey.
“Sit,” she commands, urging me down onto a low bench.
My tail wags as I do as I’m told, and I think I can hear her laughing at me.
“What’s so funny?” I ask, smiling at the sight of the joy on her face.
“I think Kitty added too much lovelace,” she says.
“What?”
She crouches in front of me, holding my hands in hers.
“Promise me you won’t be mad at me,” she insists.
Why would I be mad at her? I’m not mad at her. I’m the furthest thing from mad at her. I’m—
“I just want you to know,” she says. “I want you to know how it feels.”
How what feels?
Undying need? Desperation? Drowning?
Because that is all I feel right now. Unless I could just—
I rope a hand around her wrist and yank her into my lap. She lets out a little squeak of surprise as my arms come around her, but she doesn’t fuss as I squeeze.
And thank gods she doesn’t. I think this is the only thing keeping me alive at the moment.
I slip my hand beneath her skirt, and the air fills my lungs as I rub the soft skin on her hip and press my lips to her throat, right at the base where I can feel her heartbeat.
Fates, that’s better.
“Elliot, are you listening to me?”
“Mmm,” I hum into her warm skin.
Her arms cross as she pouts, but I’m not paying attention to that either.
Her voice sounds like music in my ears, and her scent is making my mouth water. Not to mention my heart feels like it’s about to burst out of my chest.
“Iris? I don’t feel good.”
My words come out soft, as if I’m pleading with her to merely look at me. Maybe I am. Because the moment she leans back, and her eyes settle on my face, my chest stops feeling like it might crack in two.
“I know…” she says, cringing.
The look on her face is more than nervous; it’s mischievous, and as the heat of her gaze settles deep in my stomach, my senses come rushing back, brighter and louder than before.
“What did you do?” I ask. “Did you give me something?”
She bites down on her lip, shifting in my lap as she smiles. Not that slick grin she gives me when she’s being a brat, but the broad, fangy smile, when she’s just barely containing a laugh.
“Oh, you little terror. You poisoned me?”
Her smile grows wider as she nods, and I squeeze her round the middle, digging my fingers in at her sides until she starts to laugh.
“Don’t!” she shouts, pawing at my hands. “Wait! Wait.”
But it’s a sweet girlish giggle that makes my ears ring like church bells, so I continue until I’ve had my fill and she starts to kick and writhe.
“What is this?” I ask, kissing my way down her arms.
“You can’t tell?”
How am I supposed to tell?
I don’t feel any different.
My airways aren’t closing, and my vision seems fine.
There is a rosy haze over everything. Like when Iris first walks into a room, and for a brief moment, she is all I can smell. That spicy, sweet fragrance that clogs my every breath.
I breathe it in, enjoying the tingle that spreads through my limbs. And it takes until it settles in my chest for me to realize what she’s done.
“A love potion?” I say.
Her smile is gone, replaced by round, watchful eyes, as she nods.
I crush her closer, kissing her so hard my dampener starts to constrict.
“Gods, you’re a fucking genius.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” she says. “I had a lot of help from Kitty.”
“Kitty?”
She nods.
“She made sure it couldn’t be scented so I could surprise you. And the formula needed some tweaking to get around your curse, but it should hold.”
My eyes start to burn as I realize she’s thought of everything, and I close them briefly, inspecting the sensation.
So this is love?
This warm, suffocating, cloying feeling.
How are people walking around like this?
How do they get anything done?
Is everyone simply resisting the urge to trap their mate at home for all eternity? I’m almost positive that if I look away for even a second, I will die of starvation. And yet, I somehow feel as if this is the first breath I’ve ever taken.
“Princess,” I mutter. “My princess.”
She smiles because she knows it’s true.
She is mine.
Love or lust. Mated or not. She belongs to me, for now.
“Wait.” I rear back, holding her at arm’s length. “Let me look at you.”
She frowns, but doesn’t argue as my gaze rakes over her.
For the most part, she looks the same.
Full, fuckable mouth. Eyes deep as the earth. Brown skin so precious you’d think she was dipped in gold.
It’s all the same. But somehow different. More pronounced.
And then there are the new things. Things I hadn’t noticed before.
Like the hairline gap between her two front teeth.
The way her left eye is slightly bigger than the other.
The little beauty mark between her breasts.
And a hundred other little things. Maybe even a million tiny things.
And I’d been missing them all this time.
When I haven’t spoken in a while, she asks me what I’m doing.
“Committing you to memory,” I say.
But I regret those words after they leave my mouth because they take her smile with them.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she says. “You can’t make me.”
I want to tell her that she should. That she deserves more than this. More than lies and potions. But I already tried that, and she’s never really been good at doing as she’s told.
“I know,” I mutter. “But I don’t want to forget it all when it wears off.”
She seems to understand what I mean, because she settles into me, leaning back just enough so I can see all of her.
“How much time do we have?” I ask.
“Three hours. Maybe four? Depending on your metabolism.” She cringes as she gives me the prognosis, and I take it that this is not the result she was hoping for.
“I know it’s not a lot,” she says, picking at her nails. “But Kitty thought that anything longer might trigger the curse to intervene, and without knowing the exact curse technique, we couldn’t counteract it. So we had to—”
She lapses into a long-winded and well-informed explanation.
Half of which I can’t even pretend to comprehend.
Something about ratios and emulsifiers: I’m not sure.
Potions were never my strong suit. But her commitment makes me smile anyway, and I can’t resist the urge to press my mouth to hers.
She relaxes into our embrace, arms wrapping around my neck.
“I would’ve been happy with five minutes,” I say, whispering against her lips. “Three hours is plenty. Thank you.”
I kiss her again, and this time I don’t stop until my dick is straining with need. She shifts as it prods her in the ass, and I know she feels similarly as I trail the edge of her panties, feeling for her wetness.
My fingers come away damp, and I lick them clean, unwilling to waste even a drop. Her cheeks heat as she watches me.
“Are you hungry, princess?”
“No,” she says softly, almost moaning.
She isn’t lying this time. I know she’s full from last night; I plan on feeding her anyway.
But before I can take hold of her, she slips out of my grip, sliding down to the floor and kneeling between my legs.
“What are you doing?” I ask, tail stiff as a board.
“I want to taste you,” she says, voice barely above a whisper. “Is that alright?”
Alright? Has she lost her mind?
“Baby, you know you don’t have to ask. It’s yours. Just take it.”
She nods, but her hands linger on my knees, and her scent shifts, a mild taste of fear seeping into her ordinarily sweet fragrance.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Yeah, I’ve just…I’ve never…” Her words trail off, and she falls silent.
Only as she averts her gaze do I realize what she is trying to tell me.
“Seriously?”
“I’ve never wanted to,” she says quietly, as if it were something to be ashamed of rather than the sweetest gift she’s ever given me. But I’m not sure I’ve earned the privilege of claiming such a treasure.
“Are you sure?” I ask her. “You don’t have to.”
“No, I want to. I want it to be you. But…” She pauses, and her eyes round as she peers up at me through her dark lashes, looking more innocent than she has any right to. “Promise you’ll tell me if I’m not doing it right.”
Gods, this woman. How am I supposed to lie to her while she’s looking at me like that?
She could sit here drooling on it for an hour, and I wouldn’t say a damn thing. But I promise her anyway.
“Mmhmm.”
Her fingers work the button on my jeans, and her scent blossoms with need as my dick springs free.
I watch with twisted satisfaction as her eyes glaze over and her breathing turns shallow.
“Look at you,” I say, brushing my thumb over her lips and past her teeth. “So beautiful. So needy.”
I hinge my finger on her jaw, forcing her mouth to open.
“Let’s see how good you look with this dick between your teeth.”
Cautiously, she leans forward to taste me, tongue sweeping over my head, sending a white, hot pleasure coursing through me.
“Oh fuck, baby.”
I grip the arms of the chair to keep from forcing myself down her throat, and she smiles, pressing a kiss to the tip before wrapping around me.